Fact check: Which U.S. senators announced they would not accept pay during a shutdown and what were the exact dates?

Executive summary — clear, sourced answers on who said they would refuse pay and the timing

Several news compilations and local reports list a group of U.S. senators who publicly pledged to forgo, defer, or donate their congressional pay during the 2025 government shutdown; names repeatedly cited include Senators Andy Kim, Lindsey Graham, Ron Johnson, Ashley Moody, and Utah Sen. John Curtis ^{[1] [2]}. The shutdown’s start date is reported inconsistently in the examined sources — most say it began on October 1, 2025, while one account ties the operational lapse to actions on October 3, 2025 — and none of the available items gives a definitive, uniform date for each senator’s announcement, leaving the exact announcement dates unclear in the record provided ^{[1] [3] [4]}.

1. Who publicly pledged to forgo pay — a short, repeatedly cited roster

Multiple compilations of lawmakers refusing pay during the 2025 lapse name a similar core group of senators: Andy Kim (D-NJ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Ashley Moody (R-FL), and John Curtis (R-UT) are specifically mentioned across the collected accounts ^[2]. Sources describe variations in how those lawmakers handled their pay — some said they would decline or defer it, while others pledged to donate it to charity — and local reporting on Utah lawmakers explicitly included Sen. Curtis among those rejecting salary during the shutdown ^{[1] [3]}. These lists also include additional members of the House and Senate beyond the core names, but the provided summaries emphasize the five senators above as repeatedly reported in mid-October aggregations ^[2].

2. When did the shutdown begin — conflicting start dates in the coverage

The assembled reports largely treat the shutdown as beginning in early October 2025; most pieces cite October 1, 2025 as the start date for the funding lapse, framing the pay refusals as reactions to that immediate event ^{[1] [2] [4]}. One item, however, ties the operational lapse to an event after the Senate rejected a stopgap measure, saying the shutdown began "just after midnight on Wednesday, October 3, 2025," which creates a discrepancy in timelines among the reports ^[4]. None of the supplied analyses provides exact announcement timestamps for each senator — the coverage documents that the refusals occurred during the early days of the shutdown period in October 2025, but it does not deliver precise announcement dates for individual senators ^[2].

3. What “not accepting pay” meant in practice — donation, deferment, or formal refusal

The sources describe three different actions under the umbrella of “not accepting pay”: some lawmakers announced they would donate their salary to a charity, some would defer or refuse the paycheck while the lapse continued, and others framed the move as a symbolic act of solidarity with furloughed federal employees ^{[3] [2]}. For example, Sen. Lindsey Graham is reported to have said he would donate his salary to a South Carolina nonprofit, while Sen. Andy Kim was noted for announcing he would forgo receiving pay; Sen. Ron Johnson and others are listed among those declining pay during the shutdown without uniform language across reports ^{[4] [2]}. The reporting does not consistently document whether the pledges were formal, legally filed actions or public statements of intent, leaving legal and administrative follow-through unclear ^[2].

4. Assessing the sources — dates, updates, and potential framing

The most recent comprehensive list in the bundle is dated October 13, 2025, which aggregates pledges by senators and representatives and appears to be periodically updated ^[2]. Local reporting from Utah dated late October highlights regional members like John Curtis declining pay and frames the move as solidarity with federal workers ^[1]. A later October 29 article reiterates that multiple lawmakers across parties had pledged to withhold pay as the shutdown continued, noting individual examples and framing some donations to charity ^[3]. These timelines suggest initial declarations clustered in early to mid-October 2025 with continuing coverage and list updates, but the sampling shows no single definitive original announcement date per senator in the provided materials ^{[2] [3]}.

5. Bottom line and remaining gaps — what is known and what still needs verification

The confirmed, repeated finding across the sourced reporting is that several senators — notably Andy Kim, Lindsey Graham, Ron Johnson, Ashley Moody, and John Curtis — announced they would not accept pay during the 2025 shutdown, and that news outlets placed those pledges in the first weeks of October 2025 ^{[1] [2]}. The record assembled here does not contain precise calendar dates for each senator’s public announcement nor consistent legal documentation of payroll adjustments, and the shutdown’s start is reported as either October 1 or October 3, 2025 depending on the account ^{[1] [4]}. To resolve the remaining uncertainties — exact announcement timestamps and any official payroll filings — consult each senator’s primary statements or Congressional payroll records dated in early October 2025.